My hands drop from her throat to her gown. I pull forcibly until I hear fabric tear under my grip.
“Cage,” she whines, panting against my lips. It’s the most perfect sound I’ve ever heard. I want to claim every inch of her skin.
“Keep saying my name,” I breathe. “Just like that.”
No, her skin is not enough.I need to infect her soul.
My hands are beneath the hem, ready to lift her and press her thighs to the railing—
The world tilts.
Her hands are on me. She eases me to the floor.
“Are you all right?” she whispers.
No. Something is wrong. Strength seeps out of me like spilling blood. I blink, trying to sit up.
“Millicent, what did you do?”
The devil itself smiles back at me. She caresses my head, stroking my hair in a parody of tenderness.
“Somnex.” A sedative. The exact one we used on her before.
The little bitch. I should have known she was up to something the moment she kissed me like that. “I’m going to wake up,” I growl, struggling to focus, “and rid us of you.”
She laughs bright and full. I’ve never heard her sound so vibrant. “Please. No one even notices what I’m doing. What do you all think I am? A troubled girl with a soft heart?” She twirls a lock of my hair around her finger, treating me like a toy. “It’s just my nature, right? Isn’t that what Luca says?”
I see it now, the wolf beneath her soft skin, its sharpened teeth and hunting skills honed from years of practice. “I always saw you for what you are. A Le Strange. One we should burn first the second this war has ended.”
She smiles wider. Her eyes sparkle with something lethal. “I’ll take you down with me, but not today. I hope you sleep well,little shadow.And I hope you know the darkness coming is me. Everyone dies tonight, but don’t worry.” Her voice hardens. “It’ll all be self-defense.”
Her words cut like poisoned glass. My limbs begin growing cold, and I can no longer control them.
“Millicent, listen to me. I’m sorry about your mother,” I force out. She’s not lying. The sedative is pulling me under, but panic drags me up by the throat. “My family is here. Millicent, please. You saw my memory. I was tor—”
“Enough!”
She looms over me, voice thunderous. “You are pathetic, weak. Tortured? I’velivedwhat you’ve lived and came out stronger. You bleed your weakness onto others like a stain!”
“It’s not an excuse!” My voice slurs. My vision splinters, triple-layered and dimming. “You’ve been…brainwashed.”
I fight the sedative. Ihave to.
No. No, I need tosave them—
I CAN SAVE THEM.
My hands tremble as I pull the spike from my mother’s chest.
“Mama, please wake up,” I whisper, rocking her limp body against mine. Her blood coats me, seeping through my clothes until it clings like a second skin.
I can save them.
I rock, holding her to me. Her last words, a lie. It is my fault.
I reach over, fumbling for my father’s cold hand, curling my fingers around his.
But—but I can save them.
